‘I don’t get to see her fall in love’: Mother mourns teen killed at house party

Erica Hill-O’Watch would have turned 17 on Boxing Day. But her life was cut short, and now her mother is speaking out to try to put an end to teen violence in the city.

“She was a daughter, a sister, an aunt, a grandchild,” Hill said. “We did everything together, her and I.”

Hill-O’Watch was at a party at a home in the 900 block of Cameron Street on Oct. 13. That night, police say she was injured and pronounced dead at the scene.

A 15-year-old boy has been arrested and charged with second-degree murder in her death. He cannot be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

Hill-O’Watch was finishing her last year of high school at Scott Collegiate and was on the girl’s volleyball team. Her friends and family said she dreamed of finishing high school, getting her driver’s licence and becoming a youth care worker.

“She was a bright girl. She did everything for a reason,” said her cousin Regan Cole. “She was very, very supportive.”

“She was always filled with joy and always knew how to put a smile on your face, even in your darkest days,” Hill-O’Watch’s close friend Lorna Standingready said.

Hill said her daughter was friends with the boy accused in her death. She believes Hill-O’Watch was trying to help another person involved in an altercation.

“I know who my daughter is and that’s what my daughter was doing,” she said. “That was the first night that she’s been out in a few months.”

After her daughter’s death, Hill has a warning for others.

“I said it once and I’m always going to say it,” she said. “With our youth, you don’t have to do things to fit in. You don’t have to drink, you don’t have to do drugs. If people don’t accept you for who you are, then those are people you don’t need in your life.”

Friends and family are now honouring Hill-O’Watch with a Missing and Murdered Indigenous Logo. Her volleyball coach and high school also plan to start a memorial scholarship in her name. Fundraising efforts are underway.

Scott Collegiate is also making arrangements so that Hill-O’Watch can be part of this year’s graduation ceremony.

“I don’t get to see her graduate, I don’t get to see her fall in love, get married,” Hill said. “My daughter is missing out on a lot of things because a decision somebody else made.”

The family is calling for an adult sentence for the teen charged in Hill-O’Watch’s death.